Defiant at Capita after job losses

Telecoms & Financial Services May 11 2016

We may be down, but we’re certainly not defeated’ was the message delivered to Capita bosses by CWU Conference – with delegates voting unanimously to commit the union to rebuild membership and to step up the battle for future job security in the wake of 700 O2 account job losses in Bury and Glasgow.

Despite considerable anger over the recent redundancies, which nailed the lie to repeated O2 and Capita denials of a leaked story which appeared in the Telegraph just before the mass TUPE of O2 call centre employees to Capita at the start of 2014, speaker after speaker insisted it was vital for the CWU to regroup and come out fighting on behalf of the remaining O2 contract workforce in Preston Brook and Leeds.

“To say that what’s happened to the hard-working members in what was and still is the largest TUPE transfer in UK history has been a disaster would be an understatement,” said James Yates of Manchester Clerical.

Yet, along with Billy Cook of Scotland No 1, who is himself being made redundant from the Sky Park site in Glasgow, both the motion’s proposers insisted the onus is now on the union to prevent others facing a similar fate.

“This motion is not going to help the members n Glasgow and Bury who have gone – it’s designed to protect and support the members in the remaining two sites,” observed Billy – prompting Mark Elwen of West Yorkshire to thank both branches for tabling “one of the most unselfish motions I’ve ever seen”.

Supporting the motions demands for Telecoms Executive to attempt to negotiate a long term resourcing strategy with Capita, assistant secretary Sally Bridge pointed out that, whilst dealing with the job losses in Bury and Glasgow, Capita had backfilled some roles using its offshore site in Cape Town, South Africa and an un-unionised site at Dearne Valley in Yorkshire.

“It therefore becomes critical that we have a better understanding, better visibility and better control of that situation, because we cannot

afford to continue haemorhaging jobs at the level we have over the last 12 months.

“I’m not going to dwell on what has happened since 2013 and the Daily Telegraph article, and the fact that what was leaked at that time has come to fruition, because quite frankly it’s heart-breaking and not many of us can talk about it without feeling extremely angry or emotional.”

• Delegates unanimously backed a Telecoms Executive motion committing the union to mount determined recruitment campaigns at all non-recognised UK Capita sites where O2 work is being undertaken, with the ultimate aim of securing trade union negotiating rights for workers who are currently on inferior terms and conditions to ex-Telefonica workers.

“For as long as there are unrecognised sites, where people work on poorer terms and conditions, our members in the two remaining ex-O2 sites will continue to be at risk,” explained Billy Cook of Scotland No 1. “This is about building up a union bases and recruit net members in the non-recognised sites to limit the vulnerability we have as a bargaining unit.”

Conference also unanimously backed a West Yorkshire branch motion condemning “the aggressive style of managing sick absence” at Capita, with delegates demandingthat negotiations be sought with the company to address a “stringent approach which is totally punitive and disproportionately affects members with disabilities and long-term illness.